l78 Breeding Results al Park Lodge Aviaries. 
Fortunately the sexes in mature birds are very easy 
to tell and the cocks get the crimson cheek mark very early 
—quite in the first autumn of their life. It is better to pay a 
really big price for aviary-bred or thoroughly " acclimatised " 
(i.e. healthy) birds than to buy recently imported birds; the 
hitter die otT in a way that is most heart-breaking. Then one 
should keep one's Iiirds caged up in the aviary you want them to 
be in for a week or possibly more. 
Like most Africans, they prefer millet, both white and 
Indian, and canary seed as their staple diet. I make it a rule 
to give all birds I want to nurse up an abundance of millet 
spra>. They are fond of it; it is very who'.esome and moreover 
it kcc})s them occupied. Newly -imported birds should 
be given grit very sparingly. Birds just after travell- 
ing should always be given warm water. If you like to i)e 
a faddist and to feel you are really an Al aviculturi-t, you 
will give them boiled water, but; if you are anything of a 
chemist, you will not take the trouble. Large cages, please, 
lAit do not hang them up in the brilliant sun. In a truly 
natural aviiiry few birds deliberately choose to be 1 aked' alive. 
My Cordon Blous want lookhig for, or what amounts to tlie 
same thing, waiting for. They are not like the Italian organ 
grmder and his monkey, who occupy your front door-step, and 
stay until further order's. Like all Waxbills they are passion- 
ately fond of seeding grass, which, after picking out (eating) 
the >eeas they use for weavuig a most delightful and fascinat- 
ing, domed nest, generally lined with soft hay or dried grass; 
sometimes feathers are used, but not by any means always. 
Two nests are illustrated in this article, showing how 
cleverly they are hidden in the bushes: Number 1 was built 
in a Retinospora — a very favourite t; ee with all bi/ds and sp^e.i- 
did cover; very snug and warm, and always looks well, l.;eing an 
evergreen — and number 2 (see plate) in an Evangeline Kosc, 
than which no Rambler Rose is more vigorous, more bt^auriful, 
and nioreover it has the great advantage in not being so thorny 
as some . 
In each of the nests figured three young Cordons weie 
fully reared. The eggs are, of course, white. Why " of 
course " you ask? It is, I believe, a general rule that e^ggs 
which are laid in domed ncits, or iii holes, etc., where they 
